Release That Witch

"Liar," Nightingale said when she went back to the office with Roland after the meeting with the alchemist. "There aren't any 450-year-old ancient books. Was it not you who wrote Elementary Chemistry and asked Scroll to memorize the textbook? Didn't you intend that the book become part of teaching materials for subjects sooner or later?"     

"It's a white lie." Before Roland continued to explain this to Nightingale, he picked up his cup to sip his tea. After the merchant from the king's city, Margaret, had presented him with a packet of black tea, he had happily said goodbye to those days with only plain boiled water and ale to drink. "How else could I explain to him that a prince living in a palace knows that much about alchemy? If there were a prince like that, he would have learned everything from the alchemists of the king's city. Giving him a book to study by himself is more fitting, compared to learning the knowledge directly from me. After all, like everyone else, he would trust himself the most."     

"Oh?" Nightingale suddenly leaned forward to get close to Roland. "Then who was your teacher, really?"     

"Um..." The moment Roland opened his mouth, Nightingale pressed a finger against his lips and said, "If you don't want to tell me, don't say anything. I don't want to hear you lie."     

Roland blinked his eyes as a promise, and Nightingale took back her hand.     

"There're only five days before the planned duel." Roland took this opportunity to change a topic. "It's time to let Carter get familiar with the new weapon."     

"But you said that there was an ammunition problem."     

"The guncotton problem will only cause inconvenience in battles. It's just a match. He doesn't need to think about ammunition transportation or reloading problems. He can shoot at least one round with each gun. 10 shots will be enough for us to test the new weapons," Roland said. Actually, a lack of guncotton might also bring down the hit rate of the weapon, but Roland chose to leave that to luck and Carter.     

*******************     

Out of the town, a site to the west of the city wall was chosen for drills before the duel.     

Carter arrived at the former explosive trial blasting site to accept the new task from Roland.     

"Fight against a witch? Could I wear God's Stone of Retaliation?" The chief knight asked, stunned after hearing the task.     

"Of course, but you're going to fight against a special witch. She won't be affected by God's Stone of Retaliation and she fights with a large sword, similar to a knight," said Roland, smiling.     

"You mean, she's a witch who's excellent at close combat skills?" Carter asked while glancing at Nightingale, who was standing beside Roland.     

"Something likes that. Her ability is to strengthen herself, so she's more powerful and faster than ordinary people. You have to be well prepared. Her physical strength is several times greater than that of the drugged death row convicts during the test on pills." Roland said.     

"Several times greater... Your Highness, do you know what that means?" Carter widened his eyes. "I may not be able to react, even if I do see her moves. If she's really that powerful, I'm afraid that I can't defeat her."     

"Theoretically speaking, you have no chance of winning the duel." The prince gave Carter a strange-looking firearm and continued, "But this thing will greatly increase your winning probability."     

"Is this... a new type of flintlock?" Carter received the weapon with both hands and asked. The knight thought it must be something like a flintlock, as it had similar trigger and barrel. Smaller as it was, it weighed heavily on his hand and could have even been heavier than a flintlock. The most striking feature of this new weapon was that it was completely made of metal, except for the wooden handle. Carter found it hard to describe in words the aesthetic feeling aroused by the weapon's smooth lines and corners and its offwhite metallic luster.     

He loved this new weapon the moment he saw it.     

"It's called revolver." Roland took out another similar weapon and flipped a honeycomb-like revolver out of the left side of the gun. "Now, I'll teach you how to use it."     

Soon, Carter found out that it was actually easier to operate than a flintlock. As its bullets and gunpowder were fully connected to each other, he could directly embed them into its revolver to fire. As there were together five holes in the revolver, he could shoot five shots after each reloading. He thought this might be the reason for which the weapon was called revolver. On the other side of the revolver, there was a little hole opposite to the runner. Sparks could be seen flying out of this hole when he pulled the trigger, during which he could hear the sounds of friction. He guessed that it might have flint inside. What impressed him the most was the bullets. Their light golden, streamlined shells seemed to be made of a thin copper layer. He could not see any gap on the smooth surface. Each bullet was pointed on one end, with the opposite end thick as his index finger. They precisely fit into the hole in the revolver. Amazed by the design, he wondered how could such delicate things be manufactured.     

"This one isn't a finished product yet. You have to pay attention to the opened parts in the bottom of the bullets. Point slightly downward to prevent the gunpowder from leaking out, like I'm doing now. Remember to clean the cartridge in the runner after each round of shooting, just in case there's some gunpowder left in the holes," Roland said while performing the demo.     

"It's not a finished product?"     

"That's correct." The prince shrugged. "We're stilling working on a key technology. If everything goes smoothly, you may be able to use the finished product for the duel. When that happens, you won't have to worry about the leaking problem anymore, as bullets will no longer have openings on the bottom. Now, let's begin our target practice."     

[How will the gunpowder inside the bullet shell be ignited if there's no opening in the bottom?] Carter felt confused, but he quickly decided to let it be. He knew that he would never think of the right answer to such a difficult question, as he was not a brilliant man of wide learning like His Highness.     

[His Highness is really knowledgeable.] Carter now harbored immense respect for the versatile prince. Among all the court mentors, alchemy masters, and astrologers he knew, he was unable to find anyone so capable of inventing so many strange but highly practical things like His Highness. The steam engine he created had been put to use in the mines, transporting ores and drawing water. Even his flintlocks and cannons had defeated demonic beasts and Duke Ryan's Coalition. By contrast, the other inventions, such as snow powder and the manned kites which had ended up being nobles' toys were so impractical. Carter firmly believed that Roland Wimbledon would eventually sit on the throne of the Kingdom of Graycastle.     

The human body shaped target 15 meters away looked only as big as his palm. Following the prince's instructions, Carter turned his upper body slightly to one side to precisely aim the revolver at the target and pulled the trigger.     

Smoke and several sparks gushed out from both sides of the revolver and deafening sounds caused a pain in his ears. He felt as if he was being pushed firmly back by someone. His wrists were thrown up uncontrollably by the strong knock-back. However, after the smoke of gunpowder vanished, the target still remained intact.     

"Go on," Roland said.     

Carter took a deep breath and then shot the remaining bullets, but none of the four shots hit the target.     

"This is..." Carter looked at His Highness who did not seem to care very much about the results.     

"A pistol can never compete with a rifle when it comes to shooting range and accuracy because of its short barrel. It's not a very strange thing to miss the target when shooting a pistol. Its caliber is nearly 12mm, so its knock-back is much stronger than that of a flintlock." Carter felt that Roland's explanations were hard to follow. "To put it simply, just keep practicing following the steps I taught you until you can hit the target in all the five shots. This is the only way for you to win the duel. By the way... remember to collect all the shells. They can be refilled and reused many times."